obeisance
by midwesterosi
Summary: "A ship had been spotted making way for port just that morning. A ship sporting the banners of the Southern Isles." A series of helsa drabbles. 25/25 COMPLETE.
1. it's there beyond the quiet

A/N: A little helsa love from me to you. Each chapter will cover five drabbles and there will be five chapters total. Prompts from livejournal group "100 Prompts". Shout out!

obeisance  
chapter one: it's there beyond the quiet

1\. lively

The harbor was bustling with energy; the air heavy with the smell of the sea and filled with the voices of dockworkers calling out orders and salutations in merriment. Ships moaned in the moors while the gulls cried out overhead, their piercing shrieks lost in the din.

The Snow Queen hardly registered any of this picaresque scene as she hurried down the docks. Here and there a sailor's face alit with recognition, but Elsa had no time for formalities. A ship had been spotted making way for port just that morning. A ship sporting the banners of the Southern Isles.

2\. remorseful

"How many times do I have to say 'I'm sorry'?"

"They could be the only two words I hear from you the rest of your miserable life and I still wouldn't believe them."

"Well, if that's how long it takes."

"How long what takes?"

"If I have to spend the rest of my life, every day for forever, proving to you how much I regret my actions; I will do it."

"Don't be foolish. Why would you waste your life like that? What would it accomplish?"

"Waste? Spending every day with you should be a privilege. Elsa, are you blushing?"

3\. dismiss

"As though I would want to see him every day! The nerve of that man!"

Anna had seen her sister in many moods most a variation of aloof or recalcitrant with happy smiles and carefree laughs a more recent addition to her repertoire. However, the princess could not remember a time she had ever seen Elsa so angry, so absolutely incensed.

"Did he at least say 'I'm sorry'?"

"He practically sang it from the highest tower," the Snow Queen was in disarray, ice cracking loudly beneath her every pacing step, "It doesn't matter. I can't believe a word he says."

4\. heavy

"Why are you here, really?" Hans was unsurprised by Anna's presence in his rooms - little more than spare servants quarters, long disused and reeking of dust - but Kristoff's looming silhouette in the doorway gave the prince pause.

"To repent." In this, at least, he sounded honest.

Anna was unmoved. "Just remember: if you try anything, if I even suspect you're thinking about trying anything," she turned toward her fiancee and her face was cast in shadow by the light of the hall, "Kristoff and I will find the deepest, darkest ice-pit we can and we will end you."

5\. forward

It was weeks before Elsa got used to Hans' presence in her household. The first few days she had been a wreck, constantly on edge as though expecting him around every corner. She had seen him in various places; serving dinner in the kitchens, helping in the gardens, even napping under a book in the library. In all of these instances he never once tried to speak to her. He barely even acknowledged her. It was driving her crazy.

Then one day she looked up from her tea service and he was there.

"Hans."

"Your majesty."

"Join me."

"Of course."

end chapter one.


	2. even though i'd whisper it inside

A/N: Oh, the fun I had writing this chapter. Enjoy.

obeisance  
chapter two: even though i'd whisper it inside

6\. prowl

The castle was dark, the halls hush as Elsa slipped silently through the shadows. It was a game leftover from childhood when night seemed the only safe time to wander the empty shell of her home uninhibited.

Suddenly, a hand warm against her mouth and the harsh planes of a man's body at her back. "What's all this, then?" The voice was half-drunk with sleep and familiar, but she froze Hans in place regardless of his intentions. This seemed to go a ways toward waking him. "Your majesty! I thought you were a burglar or something!"

"How unfortunate for you."

7\. cut

"Really, Gerda, you could have warned me." Even in the relative coolness of the wash-shed Elsa could still feel the burning fever of a blush staining her cheeks and neck.

The older woman had the audacity to cackle merrily. "I take it you found the prince, then? I told you he was helping with the laundry. 'Right down there by the water,' I said."

"You neglected to mention his inappropriate lack of attire." Broad shoulders, pale skin smattered by freckles -

"Oh? Is he going without a shirt again? Why do you think I have him help with the laundry?"

8\. compromise

Hans has brought her tea service once again and although the way he lingers seems presumptuous she still asks him to stay. They play chess. He's a good player, aggressive, but Elsa is patient with an eye for the end-game.

"A wager."

"On what?"

"If I win you'll have dinner with me tomorrow - "

"Oh, will I?"

" - and if you win I'll help you write those trade agreements you've been putting off."

"I haven't been putting them off! I've been - " her words die under his smirk, eager and challenging. She holds out her hand. "Deal."

9\. impulse

Making the wager had been one thing; losing was another. Hans had still helped her with the trade agreements, much to her dismay and gratitude.

"You're going on a date with Hans?" Anna was flabbergasted, to say to least.

"It's not a date," Elsa smoothed fabric of her self-spun dress nervously, "I lost a bet." It sounded like a weak excuse, even to her ears.

"Then why do you look so nice?"

"Are you saying I don't always look nice?"

Gerda swooped in from the antechamber, "Queen Elsa, your prince is here!" Anna's grin is triumphant.

"It's not a date."

10\. hush

It is a date.

They eat on the terrace under the night sky. The food is delicious and halfway through dinner Hans proudly admits he made it himself. He pours her drinks and makes her laugh and it is just awful.

"Hans," Elsa feels like there is a dagger in her heart, "you must know I can't possibly - "

"Look!" He is suddenly excited, almost childlike, "A shooting star!" She turns in time to see the glittering streak. "If I could wish for anything; I'd wish for you forgiveness."

"Yes, but why?"

He doesn't answer her. He just smiles.

end chapter two.


	3. it wouldn't make it all unhappen

A/N: Mwuahahahahahaha.

obeisance  
chapter three: it wouldn't make it all unhappen

11\. morals

She misses Hans. Among these unfamiliar faces and untrustworthy ambitions it is hard to find an ally. With his easy charm and subtle manipulations she was sure the prince would enjoy this gala more than she could.

"Your majesty," Elsa softens at the sound of his voice,"may I have this dance?" She turns and takes his hand without thinking of her aversion to such frivolities.

Instead she smiles and laughs as he pulls her into the first bars of a waltz, "What are you doing here?"

"Gerda freed me of kitchen duty early. She seemed to think you wanted company."

12\. engage

He has taken to accompanying her over tea and paperwork in the afternoons, offering his opinions and advice even when unsolicited.

"You should politely decline."

"If I 'politely decline' every marriage proposal they'll never stop coming."

"Then perhaps you should get married."

"To who? You? You're the only eligible bachelor I know aside from a few members of the staff."

"If you insist."

Rather than argue with him or laugh outright in his face, Elsa studied Hans very seriously. Distantly, she asked, "How long have you been living with us?"

"Eight months, your majesty."

Then, finally, "I'll think about it."

13\. voice

"So, what do you guys do all day?"

"What do I do all day with whom?"

"Hans!" Anna flung herself dramatically across a settee, "It seems like every time I see you anymore you're with him."

"He's with me; not the other way around," Elsa's vehemence surprised them both.

Anna still seemed suspicious. "He hasn't tried to sing a duet with you has he?"

"A duet?" Elsa looked horrified at the mere idea, "What? No. No he has not. I don't think he even knows I like to sing."

"Elsa . . . I think Hans might really like you."

14\. awkward

The first time they kiss is strange. They've missed each other's mouths and now have to tacitly, if not verbally, admit that it wasn't an accident and agree to try again.

His forehead brushes hers and their breath mingles and suddenly the strangeness is something else entirely. Finally, their lips meet and its hard to say exactly who made the first and last move, but neither seems in a particular hurry to stop and argue about it.

His hands, bare against her cheek and neck; her fingers clutching desperately at his lapels for leverage.

The perfect picture of a scandal.

15\. lower

As much as she enjoyed their relationship - as it were - she found she still couldn't trust his motivations.

"Elsa, please forgive me," his lips at her throat were both very distracting and very convincing.

"Why?"

"Because I wish on every shooting star that you will. Because I'll prove I mean it until my dying day." And, oh, but those talented hands.

"Yes, but why?" The knife in her chest twisted with every word.

He propped himself up on his elbows and starred down at her incredulously. ""Because I love you."

And then Elsa broke. "I don't believe you."

end chapter three.


	4. we could be the perfect couple

A/N: OMG HANS. Could you be a bigger dork?!

obeisance  
chapter four: we could be the perfect couple (but only in my mind)

16\. plead

The air in the room in almost shimmering with heat; the fire in the brazier burning full blast in a futile effort to sweat out his illness. Gently, she runs ice-cold fingers along his brow slick with sickness. Her ministrations stir him from a restless fever-dream. "Elsa?"

Her hands still. "Yes, Hans, I'm here," she whispers as though its a secret.

Even as he leans into her touch he doesn't seem to really see her. "Elsa, please don't leave me," he's begging; he's crying, salty tears running over her trembling fingers, "I don't think I can live without you anymore."

17\. caring

In the weeks of his recovery Elsa is almost embarrassed by how delicate she feels around him, as though the slightest shift or raised voice would undo what health he had achieved. Anna is certainly annoyed with her, but Elsa doesn't know how to reconcile her sister's concerns with the nagging fears that sometimes wake her in the dead of night. She lays there in the dark, the long expanse of her bed empty and lonely and thinks to herself:

"I could have lost him."

And then, painfully, "I never had him."

And then, secretly, "Elsa was preferable, of course."

18\. believe

It doesn't happen all at once. It's nothing like the fairy-tales. Elsa doesn't wake up one morning and suddenly realize happily-ever-after is right in front of her.

She does, however, spend most of her mornings wrapped in his arms, fully satiated, and wondering how long they'd have before reality set in. How long until they were caught in earnest.

Meanwhile, she lets herself be distracted by his easy smiles and gentle caresses and the subtle tug of a braid when he thinks he can get away with it. She wants to tell him she loves him, too, but she's afraid.

19\. found

"What's going on here?!"

It is all too obvious what is going on here: the princess of Arendelle has found its queen in a rather compromising position with the thirteenth prince of the Southern Isles, the princess's former fiancee and the attempted murderer of both monarchs.

"Your highness, I can explain." The look Anna gives Hans is pure contempt.

"Please, explain away!"

Hans takes a deep breath, stealing himself for the gallows. "I love her."

Anna snorted inelegantly and rounded on her sister. "Elsa? Are you really going to tell me you're in love with him?!"

"I . . ."

20\. shield

Anna wants him gone. For good.

Elsa wants him to stay. Perhaps forever.

"I never should have came back."

"Why would you say that?" She looks down at him over her book; his head resting in her lap while she idly runs her fingers through his hair and reads aloud.

"I've hurt you and Anna! Again!"

"You can't protect people from themselves, Hans."

"What do you mean?"

"Anna wants to hate you. I, on the other hand," she sets down her book, "want something else entirely."

He smirks. "And what might that be, your majesty?"

"I want to trust you."

end chapter four.


	5. couldn't hurt too much to try

A/N: I hate to see it go, but I love to watch it leave. THERE WILL BE A BONUS CHAPTER. It will be posted as a stand-alone story due to, um, let's say "rating" and will cover the events of Chapter 4: 17.5 or "What happened between Elsa worrying in an empty bed and waking up in Hans' arms." So, look for that, if you're into that sort of thing.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED THE FIC!

obeisance  
chapter five: couldn't hurt too much to try

21\. open

"Elsa! Hans!" Anna is scolding, "You two are worse than a couple of teenagers!"

The pair is reduced to a mess of giggles, well into their second bottle of wine and sprawled across a couch in the queen's study. "Oh! Anna, you should see your face!"

"Honestly, Elsa."

"'My name is Anna,'" Elsa is teasing, "'And I hate fun!'"

Their roles reversed, for once, Anna can't help but smile at her sister's antics. Its rare to see Elsa acting so ridiculous.

"Well, I guess it is the Harvest Celebration . . . "

"So, let's celebrate! Hans, pass the wine!"

22\. tactile

"Stop that."

Hans is still holding the toe he had been wriggling. "Why?"

"It's annoying."

"Oho? Is my lady ticklish, perhaps?" He catches her up in his arms and his fingers playfully search her ribcage for a weakness.

"Hans!" She half-admonishes, half-gasps before his questing digits find their mark and she's left squealing with laughter.

He relents after a moment, his point proven. She smiles down at him from her perch on his lap and the look of honest adoration on his face betrays a sense of love so utterly devoted its an almost tangible thing. Easily touched; easily broken.

23\. journey

They travel to the Southern Isles. It's a lovely voyage, in spite of Elsa's initial reluctance to ride the open waters, and Hans enjoys life under full sail.

When they arrive a small banquet is thrown in their honor and after Elsa shares a nightcap with the queen in her majesty's solar.

"I suppose you're here to return my wayward son. I hope he has availed himself to some degree these past two years."

"Very much so. In fact, I have no intention of returning him at all."

"Excuse me?"

"I am here to ask for his hand in marriage."

24\. scowl

Anna is not happy, but she's not unreasonable, given the circumstances. "You're really going to marry him?"

"Yes."

"Do you love him?"

Elsa doesn't hesitate. "Yes."

The princess throws her hands up in despair. "I suppose it can't be helped."

"You'll bless our union?"

"Oh, jeez, Elsa," Anna rolls her eyes, "like I can't see how crazy you two are about each other. It's kind of gross."

"Thank you . . . I think."

"Elsa," the princess is uncharacteristically serious, "do you trust him?"

"Not entirely, not yet, but he has the rest of our lives to prove I should."

25\. hero

He's hurt her in the past and he's not be trusted and her sister mostly still hates him. He has a lot of flaws, but Elsa loves him all the same. Cast in the light of her love he shines like a shooting star. A wish brought life.

"Elsa?"

"Hmmn?" She is lazy and languid in his arms.

"Please forgive me."

"Silly man, I forgave you a long time ago."

"I know, but its still nice to hear."

"Hans, I love you."

He buries his face against her neck, his smile pressed into her skin. "And that is even nicer."

("I love you, too.")

(happily ever after.)

end chapter five.  
end obeisance.


End file.
